During the 2000s, Lego video games became a staple of many Gen Z gamers’ childhoods with their quirky gameplay and humorous retellings of IPs. Since then, the franchise has branched out, and many video game franchises have even been turned into Lego sets. Their latest project is collaborating with Guerilla Games to create Lego Horizon Adventures. However, despite the popularity of both franchises, the game sold poorly upon release. To many gamers, this was probably a surprise. Here is a breakdown of Lego Horizon Adventures’ launch.
Lego Horizon Adventures’ Poor Sales
According to The Game Post, Lego Horizon Adventures, an adaptation of the Horizon Zero Dawn series, has finally reached the shelves. However, the game is already underperforming, with only 602 players on day one on Steam. While the game was released on the PS5 and Switch, this is still a shockingly low number, given its production values. While not critically panned, the game received mixed reviews.
Most damaging of all, the game’s sales weren’t just low but were lower than those of even Concord’s peak of 700 players. For those unaware, Concord was a hero shooter with a massive budget that performed so poorly upon launch that it was shut down mere weeks later. The fact that Lego Horizon Adventures performed worse than even Concord is a poor mark on the game.
One possible reason for Lego Horizon Adventures’ poor launch is its bizarre crossover choice. Horizon is a decidedly mature series, while Lego is kid-friendly. Therefore, it’s an odd choice of game for Lego to do a crossover with, especially when there are likely dozens of other IPs that would work far better.
The Horizon Franchise
Horizon Zero Dawn is a series of open-world sci-fi games from the Dutch developer Guerilla Games. Set after an ancient catastrophe, the games follow archer Aloy on her quest to uncover the past. Gamers and critics enjoyed the games for their art direction, design, and story. The first game was released in 2017, while its sequel, Forbidden West, was released in 2022 and set up a third entry.
Outside of the mainline games, Horizon has done crossovers with several other franchises, such as Genshin Impact, Monster Hunter, Fortnite, and PlayStation’s Astro Bot. Furthermore, the game has had a TV adaptation in and out of the works for a while now. While the game’s rise to fame is impressive, it’s still a fledgling franchise, making the creation of Horizon Lego Adventures all the more surprising.
Lego Games’ History
Before Lego Horizon Adventures, the Lego brand created dozens of acclaimed video games for different IPs in film and television. During the 2000s, these games peaked with hits like Batman, Indiana Jones, Star Wars: The Complete Saga, and many others. Their destructible environments, endless characters and collectibles, and goofy style won over many gamers from Gen Z. Furthermore, they have created other massive projects such as Dimensions and the recent Fortnite crossover.
Despite creating an entire AAA video game for the franchise, Lego has only produced a single set for the game, its iconic Tallneck. This starkly contrasts with other Lego adaptations of video games, such as Mario and Minecraft, where they created dozens of both. Given Lego’s fanbase of creators and collectors, this was wasted potential.
Conclusion
Lego Horizon Adventure‘s poor attempt at meshing Guerilla’s complex, mature world with the quirky, lighthearted world of Lego led to its performance being worse than Concord’s. In the future, Horizon will still have a chance to succeed in its long-awaited third installment. The game’s poor performance on Steam’s charts shows that some crossovers, while interesting, just aren’t fated to work out.
Ultimately, the game opened the door for Lego to explore more mature franchises for their sets and games, which would especially please their massive adult fanbase. Hopefully, Lego will branch out to other franchises to continue its tradition of beloved adaptations, a formula that has worked wonders in the past.
